The Wonders of Link 16 For Less: MIDS-LVTs

Link 16 Display
(click to see situation)

Jam-resistant Link-16 radios automatically exchange battlefield information – particularly locations of friendly and enemy aircraft, ships and ground forces – among themselves in a long-range, line-of-sight network. For example, air surveillance tracking data from an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft can be instantly shared with fighter aircraft and air defense units. More than a dozen countries have installed Link 16 terminals on over 19 different land, sea, and air platforms, making it an interoperability success story.

While recent advancements may make AESA radars the future transmitters of choice, Link 16 is the current standard. The Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (MIDS LVTs) were developed by a multinational consortium to provide Link 16 capability at a lower weight, volume, and cost than the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). This free-to-view DID Spotlight article throws a spotlight on the program, explaining Link 16, and covering associated contracts around the world.

US Will Sell Global Hawks – Will South Korea Buy?

Global Hawk Cutaway

The RQ-4 Global Hawks isn’t a full successor to the famous U-2 spy plane just yet. It’s close, however, and some people have described the HALE (High Altitude, Long Endurance) UAV as the equivalent of having a photo satellite on station. Flying at 60,000 feet for 30-40+ hours at a time, the jet-powered UAV uses sophisticated radars and other sensors to monitor developments on land, sea, and air over an area of about 40,000 square miles/ 100,000 square km. Reported image resolution has been described as 1 foot or less. The USA has made effective use of Global Hawks since their formal unveiling in 1997, which has prompted interest from other countries. Germany has co-developed and inducted its EuroHawk version under a EUR 430 million program, and NATO’s AGS system will deploy Global Hawk UAVs as well.

Outside of NATO, however, sales have been much trickier. Four issues have worked to hold up potential sales – 2 of which are acknowledged openly, and 2 of which tend to play out very much behind the scenes. South Korea ran afoul of all 4 of those issues, when the USA rejected their application to buy 4 of the larger RQ-4B UAVs in 2006. Now, it seems, the tide has turned in the USA, but South Korea is less sure. What’s certain is that the USA will be fielding its own Global Hawks over the peninsula. What’s less certain is whether South Korea will buy some of its own.

Have Guns, Will Upgrade: The M109A6 Paladin PIM Partnership

Before: M109 & M992

The USA’s M109 self-propelled 155mm howitzers were first introduced in 1962, as a form of armored mobile artillery that could stand up to the massed fire tactics of Soviet heavy artillery and rockets. They and their companion M992 Armored Ammunition Resupply Vehicles have been rebuilt and upgraded several times, most recently via the M109A6 Paladin upgrade.

In the meantime, the Army has re-learned a few home truths. Artillery arrives in seconds rather than minutes or hours, is never unavailable due to bad weather, and delivers a possible volume of explosive destruction that would otherwise require bombers and precision weapons worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Most combat casualties in the gunpowder age have come from artillery fire, and the US Army will need its mobile fleet for some time to come. So, too, will the many countries that have bought the M109 and still use it, unless BAE wishes to cede that market to South Korea’s modern K9/K10 system, or new concept candidates like the KMW/GDLS DONAR. What to do? Enter the program.

Turkey & South Korea’s Altay Tank Project

South Korea’s XK2

Turkey’s tank fleet is currently made up of American M-48s and M-60s, some of which have been modernized with Israeli cooperation into M-60 Sabra tanks, plus a large contingent of German Leopard 1s and Leopard 2s. That is hardy surprising. America and Germany are Turkey’s 2 most important geopolitical relationships, and this is reflected in Turkey’s choice of defense industry partners. The country’s industrial offset requirements ensure that these manufacturers have a long history of local partnerships to draw upon.

In recent years, however, a pair of new players have begun to make an impact on the Turkish defense scene. One was Israel, whose firms specialized in sub-systems, upgrades, and UAVs. The other is the Republic of [South] Korea, who has made inroads in the Turkish market with turboprop training aircraft, mobile howitzers… and now, main battle tanks.

Made in Korea: Counterinsurgency Trainers for Peru

KAI’s KA-1

In November 2012, Peru signed a $200 million contract with South Korea for turboprop trainers and light attack aircraft. The deal involves 10 of its KT-1 trainers, which have also been exported to Turkey and Indonesia, and 10 KA-1 armed counterinsurgency variants. An ROK official is quoted as saying that KAI plane won on both price and operational efficiency, while acknowledging that convincing a Latin American country not to buy from Brazil was challenging. Korea Aerospace Industries will ship 4 of the planes from South Korea, with the rest being assembled from KAI kits in Peru.

US Export Restrictions Hand Korean E-X AWACS Competition to Boeing

ROKAF E-737

Other countries have criticized the USA’s ITAR policy for being as much about unfair trade competition as it is about genuine security. August 2006 events in Korea would certainly appear to strengthen their case… and now a Nov 8/06 KOIS report puts the final nail in by announcing a $1.6 billion contract “win” for 4 Boeing E-737 early-warning aircraft. Yet Boeing was always the ROK’s second choice, and its “win” came about by default.

A pair of December 2005 articles covered the $1.8 billion competition for South Korea’s E-X airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) aircraft, designed to detect incursions into ROK airspace and act as a sort of air traffic control for the air war. At the time, South Korea had no AWACS assets, relying solely on its allies; by 2012, it wanted at least 4 aircraft. In response, there were 2 main competitors.

South Korea Wants GPS-Guided WCMD Cluster Bombs

WCMD Launched

In June 2012, the US DSCA announced South Korea’s formal request to buy up to 367 CBU-105D/B Wind Corrected Munition Dispenser (WCMD) Sensor Fuzed Weapons and associated parts, equipment, logistical support and training, for an estimated cost of up to $325 million.

South Korea has been moving to modernize its air force, from F-15K Slam Eagle fighter buys, to talk of modernizing its F-16 fleet, to the imminent introduction of its own FA-50 lightweight fighter, in partnership with Lockheed Martin. Its latest move would buy a formidable vehicle and boat-killing weapon that could be used from any of these fighters. So, what is a WCMD?

Rapid Fire May 23, 2012: Missiles for Korea

Chinook at Night

South Korea intends to spend more than 2 billion dollars over the next 5 years on missiles according to Yonhap. The Chosunilbo reports that this sum will translate into 500+ Hyunmu-2 and Hyunmu-3 missiles. They’re also adding to their minesweeping capabilities.

US-South Korea Rift? Of Tiger Eyes & Industrial Spies

ROKAF F-15K

In late November 2011, South Korea’s left-wing Hankyoreh newspaper reports that a combination of unauthorized examination of an F-15K’s Lockheed Martin “Tiger Eyes” IRST(InfraRed Search and Track) sensor, and concerns that a number of South Korean products contain copied technologies, have halted “strategic weapons exports” from the USA to South Korea. That reportedly includes the proposed RQ-4B Global Hawk deal.

The allegations are single-source, and written by Hankyoreh, but they are also quite detailed:

Israeli Protection Suites for South Korea’s CN-235 Transports

ROKAF CN-235

The 70/30 Elbit/IAI joint venture Elisra Electronic Systems Ltd. recently announced a $29 million contract to supply the Korean Government’s CN-235 transporters with Airborne Electronic Warfare (EW) Suites and Missile Warning Systems (MWS) for its ROKAF CN-235 transports.